Shoreline Aspens, Autumn. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Colorful autumn aspen trees line the shoreline of a Sierra Nevada lake.
Near the beginning of the second week of October I had the opportunity to travel to the Eastern Sierra Nevada. The plan was to travel solo, camp in some fairly deserted campgrounds, largely keep my distance from other visitors, and spend some time photographing the fall color. The word from others who had been there a few days earlier was that the fall color was perhaps better than usual, and I didn’t want to miss it. I headed over the crest at Sonora Pass and almost immediately encountered truly awful wildfire smoke that only got worse as I continue south. Eventually it became tolerable near Bishop, so I headed into the mountains and set up camp.
Photography was fine the next day, as the smoke had thinned a great deal. It was still there, but not oppressive. However, that evening it returned with a vengeance and I spent the night wondering how much damage it was doing to my health. The next morning I was up way before dawn, and I decided to at least try on nearby “sure bet” subject, where I had thought about photographing from a particular location in ways that might minimize the visibility of the smoke. I arrived and, sure enough, it was smoky, though less awful than the night before. I set up above the lake behind this beautiful pair of aspens, and mostly composed in ways the eliminated the long views, instead comprising the warm orange and reddish tones of the aspens with the cool, blue colors of the lake.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Another masterpiece!!
Just saw your comment. Thanks!